A Defiant Cook’s Corner Reopens After Mass Shooting

A little over a week since a gunman opened fire on Cook’s Corner, long-time patron Ann Marie Jensen wavered as she made her way up the driveway to the iconic roadhouse.

The eastern Orange County bar popular with motorcyclists and local families had reopened Friday, its management refusing to be defined by the tragedy and determined to once again provide music, cold brews and its famous spaghetti dinner to patrons.

But Jensen was still reeling from the night of Aug. 23. She said she hadn’t been at the bar for more than 10 minutes when gunman John Snowling, 59, fired on the crowd, killing three people. Orange County deputies arriving on the scene fatally shot Snowling, a retired Ventura police sergeant.

“I've cried so many tears,” said Jensen, a real estate appraiser in Mission Viejo. “And I jumped at things too. I’d just like normal back, but I'm not sure what normal is.”

Jensen, who’s been a customer at Cook’s Corner since her dad would bring her as a child in the 1970s, said she came Friday at the urging of her friend, the general manager Rhonda Palmeri. Jensen posited Palmeri was trying to keep Jensen's mind occupied, and she was ready to do whatever needed doing, whether it was selling T-shirts for a victims’ fund or helping tend to the crowds that would be lining up at the bar.

The scene on Friday was somber as Cook's Corner reopened to a grateful community.

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“I was just trying to find worth and be busy because I’m having a really hard time processing,” Jensen said.

Searching for connection and comfort

Many others were drawn to Trabuco Canyon destination Friday in search of a connection, to comfort others and be comforted by the unique sense of community that is found in this rugged part of Orange County. The parking lot was packed with cars, SUVS, pick-up trucks and, of course, motorcycles. Several in attendance said they wanted to support and patronize the iconic business that has meant so much to so many in this area.

Before heading inside, visitors paused to pay their respects at a makeshift memorial -- festooned with flowers, notes and photos of the victims. The letters “R.I.P.” were scrawled in chalk in front of the row of bouquets.

A close-up look at the makeshift memorial outside Cook's Corner that honors the three slain victims.

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Those who were killed were 53-year-old Glen Sprowl of Stanton, 49-year-old Tonya Clark of Scottsdale and 67-year-old John Leehey of Irvine. The Cook’s Corner website has compiled a page with links for those who would like to support the families of those who died and those wounded in the shooting.

Authorities say Snowling had been coming after his estranged wife, Marie, who had filed for divorce in December. She survived after being shot in the face.

Benefit concert Sunday and next steps

A benefit concert is also being held on Sunday in Huntington Beach. The M Street band, which was playing onstage when the shooting broke out, will reunite on Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Old World Biergarten to raise funds for the victims and their families.

The news of the Cook's Corner reopening was met with relief.

Not every site of a mass shooting has rebounded, or been able to do so quickly. The ballroom studio in Monterey Park where a gunman killed eleven in January has not reopened. The Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks, where 12 people were killed in a 2018 shooting, was demolished years later.

Harry Bauland, a motorcycle enthusiast from Anaheim, said he had no doubt that the roadhouse would open its doors again after the shooting and made sure to be there Friday morning.

Harry Bauland was determined to be there at the reopening, to show his support for the Cook's Corner community.

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“I came out here to support the families and even the workers here, with what they had to deal with and go through,” Bauland said.

Bauland said he started coming out to the hangout as a young man 30 years and now regularly brings three of his granddaughters. He said Friday’s mood at the establishment was more subdued than normal as people gave each other hugs, relieved “to come out and meet people and talk with people and express our disbelief of what happened."

"Why would somebody do something like that?" Bauland said.

Too important to disappear

Bauland said the Cook’s Corner community is too important to disappear for local families and the many bikers who make it a top draw on the weekend riding circuit.

Laura Miller rode up from San Juan Capistrano with her friend, Joe Lopez, to also show their love for the bar and its patrons.

Joe Lopez and Laura Miller drove up from South Orange County to make it for the reopening of Cook's Corner on Friday.

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Josie Huang

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Lopez had been worried that each day the bar was closed, the harder it would be for it to bounce back. But Miller, a social media manager, said she alway thought the beloved establishment, which has survived forest fires and earthquakes, would reopen.

“No, I didn't have any doubt,” she said, adding that no one is “ready to turn that chapter where Cook’s Corner isn’t in our lives. It's going to be in our lives for as long as I live.”

For her part, Jensen said that since the tragedy she has been wishing people could learn to live with one another.

“Maybe we could make this all go away," she said. “Just you know, tell people you love them.”

With that, she walked into the cool darkness of the bar, where she could do exactly that.